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Westminster diary

By Tam Dalyell

LEAGUE tables may be fine for rating football teams, but not schools or hospitals. New Scientist recently reported a study by mathematician Rebecca Hoyle of the University of Surrey that simulated the results of pupils from 10 schools over 15 years (14 December 2002, p 9). Using a simple mathematical model, Hoyle found that the position of a school in a league does not always reflect the quality of the school’s teaching. I gave a copy of the article to David Miliband, the school standards minister, asking what he thought of the findings.